A new field guide dedicated to the aquatic residents of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now on bookshelves. 

Fire Mountain Trails in Cherokee will be closed Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18, for the second annual WheelScorcher OneWheel Event. 

To the Editor:

This is an open letter to Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis.

To the Editor:

I am a recent resident of the lovely state of North Carolina and am truly honored and grateful to live here. Yet I am also a citizen of America, and as such I need to believe that our elected officials — including senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis — are working for the people they represent and are cognizant of the wishes of the majority of Americans.

After years of planning, fundraising, and construction, the Highlands Biological Foundation (HBF) officially dedicated the North Campus of the Highlands Biological Station on Sunday, June 5, during a huge community celebration. 

Lake Junaluska will host outdoor, lakeside Sunday worship services led by inspirational visiting preachers from June 26 through Aug. 14 as part of the Summer Worship Series.

The Franklin Chamber of Commerce was proud to welcome the Slanted Window Tasting Station to the community and the chamber family with a recent ribbon cutting celebration.  The Slanted Window Tasting Station is located at 587 Harrison Ave.

A bear has been euthanized after it broke into a tent occupied by a family of five and their dog, injuring a 3-year-old girl and her mother. 

A series of three workshops looking at energy efficiency and cost reduction techniques for homes and businesses will kick off 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 11, in the gym of First United Methodist Church Waynesville. 

Johnson City residents Steve Wheeler and John Redmond spent the weekend biking from Johnson City to Lake Junaluska in hopes of raising $5,000 to help war victims and refugees in Ukraine. 

With 423 units covering more than 85 million acres, there’s much more to the National Park Service than the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway. Here’s a roundup of some recent news from the agency. 

Bobs Creek State Natural Area is officially open following a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, June 2, attended by Gov. Roy Cooper and N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson. 

To the Editor: 

A reporter for Al Jazeera (Shireen Abu Akleh) was killed by Israeli military personnel as she covered an Israeli raid on Jenin, a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp. Then Israeli police brutally attacked the pallbearers carrying Abu Akleh’s casket. Israel says it will investigate what happened, but history teaches us Israel has little interest in accountability. 

To the Editor: 

The Republican Party is not the party of life. 

FUR’s fifth-annual Wet Your Whiskers fundraiser will be held Saturday, June 25, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Wells Event Center at 33 Events Center Way, just off N. Main Street in Waynesville.

Waynesville's favorite Jewelry Store owner, Tammy Mosley, is hosting a Jewelry Buying Event on June 6,7, and 8 during normal business hours.  

The latest round of Pigeon River Fund awards provide 10 grants totaling $234,241 to fund water quality projects in Haywood, Buncombe and Madison counties. 

A new 2-mile hiking trail is now open in Headwaters State Forest in North Carolina, crossing the state line to end at an observation platform atop Sassafras Mountain — South Carolina’s highest point. 

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer hours at the Highlands Nature Center. 

For the first time in six years, Parson Branch Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open to the public. Park officials held a ribbon-cutting event May 26 to honor the crew that performed the work and Friends of the Smokies, which provided critical funding. 

Recreation areas at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Polk County, Tennessee, are now open for the first time since a fire destroyed the building April 26. 

To the Editor:

Municipal elections in Haywood County, which are currently nonpartisan, could soon be conducted on a partisan basis if N.C. House Bill 998 is passed into law. As a local elected official, I pray that doesn’t happen, because if there is anything this world needs less of, it’s partisanship.

To the Editor:

The ordinance recently passed by Highlands’ Town Council, on its face, clearly violates the law of the State of North Carolina. Below is an excerpt from the North Carolina Vacation Rental Act that was signed into law by Gov Cooper on July 1, 2019: 

The third annual WNC JeepFest returns from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11, to the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. 

The Pearl Psychedelic Institute, a non-profit organization based in Waynesville, is the first of 10 clinics to receive authorization from the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to treat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with MDMA-assisted therapy through the FDA-regulated Expanded Access program.

An exhibit dedicated to the Southern Appalachian LGBTQIA+ experience, the “Living With Pride” art showcase will run June 3-26 at Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. 

Swimming hole monitoring season resumes this weekend as MountainTrue once again starts updating its Swim Guide, an online resource offering a weekly update on E. coli levels in more than 85 popular water recreation areas in Western North Carolina. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering $5,000 for information regarding a federally protected red wolf found dead in Tyrrell County April 15. 

On June 4, 34 trout streams and two lakes in North Carolina will reopen to trout harvest through Sept. 30. 

To the Editor:

The Highlands Neighborhood Coalition was formed by homeowners throughout Highlands to preserve the historic character of our town and to ensure that there are neighborhoods in Highlands that are purely residential and free from commercial activity, specifically short-term rentals (STR’s). 

To the Editor:

Can you imagine this: Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, Rob Walton, Charles Koch, Charles Schwab, Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and a few other super-rich Americans having the epiphany that since they amassed their wealth in a democratic society they should support the fight for democracy in Ukraine?

Haywood County Animal Services announced a $7,500 grant investment from Petco Love to help newly adopted dogs, who are wonderful but somewhat lacking in manners, to stay adopted. 

The body of a 72-year-old man was recovered from Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after somebody reported seeing it approximately a mile west of Metcalf Bottoms, at 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 9. 

Deer harvest in North Carolina remains robust, with numbers from the 2021-22 hunting season remaining nearly level with those recorded with the pandemic’s arrival in 2020. 

Sean McKeon has been hired as the new WNC Agricultural Center and WNC Mountain State Fair manager, replacing long-time manager Matt Buchanan, who retired earlier this year.

A project aiming to keep drinking water clean by helping people repair failing septic systems has earned Haywood County organizations statewide recognition from the N.C. Source Water Collaborative. 

A pair of grants totaling $911,000 aim to support economic development planning in the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor, including both Virginia and North Carolina. 

A 960-acre conservation purchase in McDowell County protects an ecologically important area along the Pinnacle Mountains. 

To the Editor:

The Western North Carolina Climate Action Coalition and the Outdoor Mission Community wish to express our sincere thanks to the residents of Haywood County for their support of our reusable bag giveaway called Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) Haywood that took place in honor of Earth Day on April 22.

To the Editor:

A recently released video shows Maddy and friends having fun and filming some foolish, immature pranks. I have no problem with that; he was young, foolish and immature. Who among us did not do foolish things when we were young?

To the Editor:

In response to the Swain County commissioners’ opposition to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park parking fee proposal, I have several points. Most importantly, let’s agree that the national park provides a precious asset, both locally and nationally, and is well worth supporting. 

Whether you own a business or are simply trying to manage a household budget, phishing scams and cyberattacks are a risk to your security.

The Great Smoky Mountains Association has earned some recognition recently for producing top-tier educational materials. 

The Quilt Garden at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville now features a brand new design titled “North Carolina Lily,” inspired by the state’s wildflower — the Carolina lily. 

Despite representing different spectrums of the agricultural community, participants in this year’s Appalachian Farm School have at least one thing in common: They all have expansion goals centered around agritourism.

The U.S. Forest Service is collecting Christmas ornaments to decorate the North Carolina tree set to adorn the U.S. Capitol this Christmas. The National Forests in North Carolina has been selected to provide the 2022 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, the third time it’s been charged with that task. 

Drake Software announced today the appointment of Dominic (Dom) Morea as President and CEO. Interim CEO Euan Menzies will continue in his role as Chairman of Drake Software.